Welcome to Title Metadata Requirements Overview video.
In this video, we’ll walk you through Metadata
What it is, How to deliver it, Why it matters, and
How to avoid the most common mistakes?
Metadata is all the information a customer needs to
decide whether to watch your content,
like the title name, synopsis, release year, cast
and crew, content rating, genre, and other details.
All of that is metadata, and there is no page without
it.
Metadata also determines how your content appears
in search results, how it’s promoted automatically,
how it’s badged on detail pages, and whether it appears
in curated carousels.
Metadata can be delivered in different ways: Two common
methods include Title Upload in the Slate Catalog
Manager and XML based delivery.
Additional delivery methods such as API, etc are also
available.
Choose the method that best fits your workflow and
scale.
Now let’s look at what’s required,
Every title requires a core set of metadata.
This includes a title name, synopsis, genre, release
year, country of origin, cast and crew, content rating,
and original language to name a few.
These requirements exist whether you’re submitting
through any delivery means.
The field names might differ by delivery format, but
the underlying requirements are the same.
One element that ties everything together is the unique
identifier, sometimes called the Content ID or SKU.
Your identifier connects your metadata to your rights,
video files, artwork and subtitles.
This content ID must be unique across your entire
catalog and must never change once delivered.
Now let’s walk through the key metadata requirements
using a simple: What, Who, When, and How framework.
The “What” refers to the Title Information.
This tells Prime Video what your content is.
It includes the official title, a synopsis, the genre,
etc.
You must provide this information for every language
version you intend to deliver.
Some territories require this information in the territory’s
local language.
The “Who” defines the People.
This identifies everyone involved: directors, cast
members, producers, and other contributors.
Each person requires their name and their role, to
ensure accurate attribution across your catalog.
The “When” indicates Release Information.
This captures the original release year and the release
territory.
The “How” shows Ratings & Classification.
This defines how your content is rated in each territory
where it will be published.
Ratings information is required per territory.
Content descriptors are also part of the ratings and
classification.
The reason codes explain why a rating was assigned.
These are optional in most territories, but are required
in special compliance & rating territories.
If you’re delivering TV content, it follows a three
level hierarchy: Series, Season, and Episode.
Each level is its own page on the Prime Video storefront,
and each requires its own set of metadata.
This is not one submission for the whole series.
These three levels are linked using unique identifiers.
The Series identifier becomes the parent for the Season.
The Season identifier becomes the parent for each
Episode.
Sequence ordering tells Prime Video the correct order
of seasons within a series, and episodes within a
season.
Make sure this is populated correctly so your content
appears in the right order.
You may also be delivering Value Added Material.
VAM is an umbrella term that includes bonus content
such as behind-the-scenes also called BTS, interviews,
teaser, and trailers.
VAM is linked to its parent title using the same identifier
system.
Finally, every metadata submission must specify what
type of content it is - Movie, Series, Season, Episode,
or VAM.
Mentioned as the WorkType, it is essential for the
parent-child linking to work correctly
Before we wrap up, let’s quickly cover the most common
mistakes partners make with metadata delivery and
how to avoid them.
First: Never change a unique identifier after delivery.
Once you’ve submitted metadata with a Content ID,
that identifier must never change.
Changing it creates a duplicate page and breaks all
connections to your video files, artwork, and rights
information, leaving you with orphaned content.
To update a metadata record, resubmit with the same
identifier and only change what needs updating.
Second: Identifier mismatches.
If identifier doesn’t match, your title will not get
published.
The identifier in your MEC must exactly match the
identifier in MMC & Avails.
Third: Ratings & People info overwrites.
Every redelivery replaces all existing values in Prime
Video & does not merge with existing metadata.
Always include the complete territory ratings list &
People info in every MEC file you submit.
Fourth: Missing content descriptors in required territories.
It causes the MEC delivery to fail.
In special compliance & rating territories, content
descriptors are mandatory, along with the ratings.
Once your metadata is delivered, you can view the
title by going to the Catalog section, where you find
the content type, episode and season references, and
any missing requirements.
Find more details about Title Metadata on our Slate
Support Guide.
That’s all for now.
Thank you for watching.
